Monthly Archives: January 2010

I am Apple (or my experience with several Apple products)

Technology, Thoughts,

So, I have become “that guy”. You know, the guy with the phone the size of an old-fashioned walk-man cassette player, strapped to his belt.  I am that guy who walks with a funny gait because the extra weight of the thing has totally rearranged his spinal column.  I bought an Apple iPhone and it is currently strapped to my hip.  Yes, I know, you thought I was so hip that I already had one of these modern miracles.  But actually, I have always been a phone-luddite.  Some friends have shamed me into entering the modern wireless age and I have to tell you, I am already hooked!  Yes, three days in and I am hooked!

I am "that guy"

I set up connections to Facebook and to this blog, to my personal and work emails and my personal connection to Barry Manilow’s fan club is in progress.  I can find the closest dollar store wherever I am driving and it will even allow me to text silly stuff to my wife annoying her greatly!  It’s genius!

Being the benevolent husband that I am, Emily also got a new iPhone and, while she doesn’t have a connection to Barry Manilow, I think she is just as excited to be able to check her lotto numbers and order more kippered herring at the touch of a button from wherever she is!

My Macbook running the Mac OS

I got a macbook awhile earlier also.  I have been tinkering with writing iPhone apps for awhile but I have always had to “try them out” on the emulator that comes with the development tools.  I earn my living writing software on Microsoft Windows machines right now, so I will always be prone to Windows evangelism, but the mac is a lot of fun and may make me a little more “computer-religious-war” tolerant.

Now, then topping to all of this is that I absolutely hate the touch of my new HP laptop.  Most keyboards have a certain feel to them and one can get used to them pretty quickly.  Even so, the differences are typically minor.  Laptops take some getting used to but they typically are “do-able” as well, but this new HP is awful.  To register key strikes, one needs to absolutely pound the keys.  With the amount of time I spend on computers, I need to be able to touch a keyboard and move on.  I do not need to get finger calisthenics each day as I try to do my job.

Windows XP running in a virtual machine on my Macbook

Now the mac laptop, on the other hand, has a  brilliant touch.  It’s sort of like giving my fingers a massage each time I type on it.  Imagine the possibilities then, of running Microsoft software on my Mac…and it is possible.  I bought a copy of VMWare Fusion which allows one to install any operating system into a “virtual space” while running the Mac operating system at the same time.  I was skeptical at first, but I am now a believer.  I installed Windows XP and all of my database and development tools and it runs brilliantly!  I can share folders between my Mac desktop and my XP desktop.  I can print and hit the Internet and do absolutely anything I can with a typical XP machine.  The coolest part is that I can switch between Mac and XP instantly…both systems are running simultaneously!

Don’t tell my wife, but I think I am in love.  I am Apple!

(but don’t worry Microsoft, I still love you too…I swing like that!)

(tap, tap, tap)…is this thing on?

Family, Fun,

Gee whiz, here it is 2010 already!  I haven’t been too faithful about writing since last year!  We’ve had snows and melts and we are back to snow again.  The temperature is only like 12 or something so it’s too cold to even go outside and complain about how cold it is.  The good news is that I have decided not to complain any in 2010.

Now if only all the dang annoying people would just leave me alone, I’d be set!

Anyhow, in typical style, we welcomed in 2010!  Don’t tell anyone but I think Emily secretly slipped into the broom closet during the festivities to down a few martinis.  I have evidence too:

Don’t her eyes look a little odd to you?  Of course, there are these too:

So, now on to today…we got the early morning wake-up call telling us that school was cancelled today.  So, here I am sitting here in the cold, writing this before I go in to work.  Everyone else is sound asleep in the jammies dreaming of sugar-plums and Dinah Shore and grizzly bears on roller skates.  The snow is once again stacking up and the wind and cold don’t help…but remember, I am not going to complain in 2010!  Instead, I think I will try to catch a quick nap and see what dreams turn up on my drive in to work!